Assessing the Differences in Lignin Concentration Due to Photosensitivity and Environmental Effects
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The Honors project is potentially the most valuable component of an Honors education. Typically Honors students choose to do their projects in their area of study, but some will pick a topic of interest unrelated to their major.
The Honors Program requires that the project be presented at a poster presentation event. Poster presentations are held each semester. Most students present during their senior year, but may do so earlier if their honors project has been completed.
This site presents project descriptions and selected posters for Honors projects completed since the Fall 2015 semester.
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Abstract
Sorghum is one of the most widely grown cereal crops in the world. It is used for grain production for human and livestock consumption and biomass production for use as a biofuel source. Lignin is one of the main carbon-based structural components in plant cell walls. Lignin plays a role in plant stalk strength and digestibility of plant tissue. In the study detailed here, multiple replicates of 300 different lines of sorghum were grown in two fields, and the lignin concentration of these lines was compared in order to test for environmental effects. Lignin production of photoperiod-sensitive genotypes against photoperiod-insensitive genotypes was also compared. It was found that replicates of the same genotype grown in different fields produced significantly different concentration of lignin and that photoperiod-sensitive genotypes had a significantly lower concentration of lignin compared to photoperiod-insensitive genotypes.